Plans for 75 new homes in Peterborough submitted

The outline application by O&H Properties Ltd is for land north of Hicks Lane in Hempsted - a short distance from the A15 London Road.

Access for new homeowners would be via Trelowen Way.

The vacant land near the East Coast Main Line was used between 1998 and 2018 as a concrete batching plant for the manufacture and distribution of concrete.

Planning permission would require changing the use of the land from industrial to residential.

However, the land is allocated for residential use in the council’s emerging Local Plan.

The application’s design statement notes that some “protected and/or notable species are likely to be present on site (including hedgehogs, reptiles, bats, birds and invertebrates),” but it claims that they would be protected.

The statement adds: “The site could be delivered in the short term as it is unoccupied. It would therefore assist the council towards achieving its five year housing supply in the short to medium term.

“Technical assessment has concluded that there are no overriding issues which would preclude the development of the site for residential use.

“On the basis of the above, it is considered that the proposed development complies with current planning policy, will secure a viable and appropriate use of an unoccupied brownfield site and deliver new homes in a sustainable location to help meet the short to medium terms needs of the Borough.”

The council will now consider the plans before deciding whether to grant planning permission.